Urban News Features

Lawmakers List Issues That Would Mobilize Black Voters

By Hazel Trice Edney

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)

U. S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.)

U. S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)

Congresswoman Donna Christensen (D-V.I.)

U. S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.)

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Now that the Affordable Health Care Act has been upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court – a major win for President Barack Obama – other key issues of importance to Black voters must also be espoused by the Obama campaign say members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

In some national polls, President Obama is slightly ahead of Republican candidate Mitt Romney. In others, they are neck-in-neck. With African-American voters as a dominant base of the Democratic vote, many predict Blacks will once again be a major deciding factor in who wins the race. In recent interviews, CBC members listed numerous issues that would incite African-Americans to the polls.

“I think African-Americans want to hear an agenda that’s going to really speak to closing the economic disparities and how the American dream is going to be afforded for all of us – what we’ve been about historically and we’re going to continue to fight until that dream is real,” says U. S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) “When you look, for instance, at the unemployment rate, still over 13 percent – unacceptable; when you look at health disparities, when you look at the disparities in education, when you look at environmental injustice, when you look at the foreclosure crisis, when you look at all of the systemic and structural issues that are still prevalent in the African-American community, we’ve come a long way and have a long way to go.”

So far, civil rights leaders have leaned heavily on the voter suppression issue to draw a distinctive line between Republican Mitt Romney and President Obama. A record number of states across the nation are engaged in changes to voting laws, many of which rights leaders believe are intended to diminish or discourage the Black vote.

The question is will this be enough to inspire African-Americans to return to the polls to vote in record numbers as they did in 2008 during the historic election of Obama, the nation’s first Black President. CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) doesn’t seem to think so.

“Make no mistake we do have an enthusiasm gap that was not present in 2008. And all of the polling data suggests that while African-Americans are committed to supporting President Obama in the November election, the question is how many will come out?” Cleaver said. “Many think that the president will get 95 percent of the Black vote, but the issue is 95 percent of what?”

To mobilize the maximum Black vote, Cleaver says strategy will be just as important as topic. Interviewed during a Washington, D.C. convening of the Conference of National Black Churches, he says the Black church will be key in coming months.

“The only way to get that turned around is for the clergy to go back to their congregations and let them know that there is a concerted effort to try to discourage them from coming out to vote,” Cleaver said. “I think when ministers lay out to them what’s going on in terms of government’s attempt to push them away from the ballot box, they’re going to be infuriated and we want that furor to propel them to come out and vote.”

But, U. S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), says despite the fact that the Republican voter initiatives are discouraging people from voting, other issues of equal or more importance are being ignored.

“Unfortunately all of this voter ID stuff and voter registration has diverted attention from the fact that Republicans want to repeal Medicare, that they want to have tax care for the wealthy and pay for it with important programs,” Scott says. “The Agriculture Committee was tasked with finding savings. Rather than cut back on subsidies to millionaire farmers, they cut food stamps and WIC nutrition to pregnant women and children. They’re coming up with mandatory minimum sentences… We’re trying to repeal the ones on the books and Republicans are trying to pass new ones. Those are the kinds of things we need to be talking about, but here we are talking about how to vote.”

The Supreme Court decision in favor of the health care law last month was viewed as a fluke in that it was the first time that conservative Chief Justice John Roberts actually voted 5-4 with the liberal members of the court. This is why Congresswoman Donna Christensen (D-V.I.) says the issue of Supreme Court appointments – which are conducted by the President and confirmed by the U. S. Senate - should also be on the minds of Black voters, given the risks of the court overturning key future cases that might affect laws of importance to African-Americans, such as affirmative action and voting rights.

“Do we want to have another Roberts or Scalia on the Supreme Court?” she quizzed. “Their decisions, the Supreme Court decisions, have not gone in favor of African-Americans, of the poor of any racial and ethnic minorities and even women in some cases. So, this should scare you. The Supreme Court has been our last refuge when everything else has failed. And if it is not there for us then we’re in real trouble.”

However, now that the Supreme Court has voted in favor of the Affordable Care Act, it would help for Black voters to know the meaning of the law and how it will help improve their lives; therefore the need to elect Democratic lawmakers – including the President – who will keep it in place, says U. S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. Clyburn is assistant Democratic Caucus chair, making him the highest ranking Black member in Congress.

“All of us need to be talking about health care more than anything else,” Clyburn says. “The fact of the matter is that health care is not about Obamacare. Health care is about those children born with juvenile diabetes being able to have insurance and they cannot have it otherwise; it’s about women with breast cancer, men with prostate cancer not being denied treatment. It’s about children being able to stay on their parents’ insurance policies up until their 27^th birthday.”

Clyburn adds that there are other issues and Obama policies that should inspire Black voters to the polls when weighing the difference between a President Romney and a President Obama.

One is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, among the first pieces of legislation signed by President Obama in late January, 2009. It helps women more easily file equal-pay lawsuits in discrimination cases.

“Women, for the first time in their lives, got legislation that allows them to stand on equal footing when it comes to wages with men. No other president has done that. This president did,” Clyburn says. “No other president gave us access to health care. This president has. No other president put Osama Bin Laden where he needs to be. This president has…What we’ve got to decide is whether or not we want to have four years of Mitt Romney or whether we want to continue with Barack Obama. That’s the only issue we ought to be thinking about.”

Rangel Re-election Faces Vote-Count Hurdle

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspapers

(TricEdneyWire.com) - The decades-long and storied career of New York Congressman Charlie Rangel (D) could be ending on a sour note.

Rangel claimed victory and his major opponent State Sen. Adriano Espaill conceded defeat June 29, after early returns showed the 40-year congressman with a comfortable lead over his rivals in the primary race for the Democratic nomination to compete in November for 13th congressional district seat.

But as election officials conducted a manual count of votes in the district, which includes parts of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, Rangel’s lead began to dwindle.

At last count, he was ahead of Espaillat by only 802 votes, or about 2 percentage points. And as the New York City Board of Elections completes its count of 2,600 absentee and affidavit ballots, the congressman’s political future—already weakened by ethics transgressions—seems to be dangling by a thread.

But even if he does come out ahead, the contentious race may be far from over. At a press conference on July 2, Espaillat accused the board of elections of bungling the voting, calling it a “murky process.”

The lawmaker rattled off a list of alleged failures including a shortage of Spanish translators and reports from voters that they had been turned away from the polls.

“We cannot have a Florida type of situation in New York State,” The New York Times said Espaillat told reporters outside a senior center in Washington Heights.

“I have received hundreds of complaints of voter suppression, and voters being turned away,” he added. “We will go to court, and we will go to the final round. I am going to fight to ensure that every single vote is counted.”

Since then the situation has grown even murkier.

Campaign operatives for Espaillat are questioning the invalidation this week of more than 2,000 additional paper votes.

“We’ve found 192 people in Manhattan whose affidavit ballots were disqualified but who show up as Democratic voters on the rolls,” said Aneiry Batista, coordinator of the recount operation for the Espaillat campaign, in a New York Daily News article. “And we’re not even halfway through those that were disqualified.”

Additionally, in the Bronx, poll workers failed to identify the election and assembly district on about 170 disqualified ballots, something which is required by law.

What’s more, according to the Daily News, Rangel’s campaign may have influenced at least one election official. On June 23, Timothy Gay, the deputy chief clerk for Manhattan’s Board of Elections — and the person currently supervising the count of the votes in the Manhattan part of the 13th congressional district — met with key Rangel operatives and supporters in Harlem, according to the newspaper.

In response to the allegation, Gay said he attended the Harlem meeting at the request of the Manhattan Democratic chairman, to provide “district leaders with lists of their Democratic inspectors assigned to their specific districts” and to “discuss election matters in general.”

Rangel was elected to the House in 1971 and currently is the third-longest serving member of the House and is the dean of the New York delegation to Congress.

NAACP Chairman: ‘In Four Months, It’s Game Time Again!” by Hazel Trice Edney

By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock told thousands of Black civil rights leaders this week that “Election night 2008 was the end of the process for many in our community when it should have been just the beginning.”

Giving her annual keynote address during the Public Mass Meeting of the 103^rd Annual NAACP Convention in Houston, Brock reminded the crowd that voter apathy that followed the exciting Obama election caused the enemies of Black progress to gain ground. New laws that discourage voting are just the beginning, she indicated.

“Instead of exerting our power again in the 2010 midterm elections, many of us stayed at home and across this land, people who do not share our values or vision for America won majorities in the Congress and state legislatures,” she said. “Our right to vote is under attack more than at any time since we passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We overcame then and we shall overcome now—but only if we are willing to dedicate ourselves to fighting a battle that many of us thought we had won.”

The theme of this year’s convention, “NAACP: My Power, My Decision, My
Vote,” is clearly intended to inspire members to the polls.

The non-partisan organization, which will hear from both Democratic Vice President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Mitt Romney, doesn’t tell its members who to vote for. But Brock’s passion indicates that Black America is in a state of emergency because of roll backs on voting laws and other conservative legislation.

“Please do not take these words lightly,” she warns. “Four years ago, it was easy to get people excited about the 2008 election. The country was on the brink of economic collapse and a charismatic leader was rallying us with a message of hope and change. Millions of Americans exercised their power, made a decision and voted for change. Election night 2008 was the end of the process for many in our community when it should have been just the beginning.”

As blockages to equality, Brock listed the passage of laws that remove safety net provisions for the poor and vulnerable, laws that scaled back the rights of workers to organize, laws that restricted women’s rights, laws that “attacked the dignity of new immigrants, and—in what proved to be our wake-up call—erected systematic barriers to our right to vote.”

She then implored the crowd, “In four months, it’s game time again and too much is at stake for us to sit on the sidelines wringing our hands. We have to take action and get back in the game to make it our own. As the young people say, “don’t hate the players, change the game!”

To offset the possible loss of votes due to discouraging new laws that require identification cards, among other stipulations. the NAACP has vowed to register one million new voters in time for the November election.

The NAACP celebrated its 100 year three years ago with President Obama as its primary speaker. Brock says the oldest civil rights organization will push into the second century with a list of issues as its guiding light.

She listed those issues as economic sustainability, education, health, public safety and criminal justice, civic engagement and participation.

Recalling the actions of heroine Rosa Parks that ignited the game-changing Montgomery Bus Boycott, Brock said, “The NAACP doesn’t have to look deep into history to see our game changing spirit at work. I’m glad tonight that the NAACP is still “on the job”.

Count Down to the International AIDS Conference

Part 1 in a 3-Part Series

By Phill Wilson

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - On July 22nd 25,000 people and 3,000 journalists from around the world will converge upon Washington, D.C., to attend the 19th International AIDS Conference. For six days researchers, scientists, doctors and other healthcare providers, policymakers, AIDS advocates and activists, people living with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers will collaborate and discuss ways to end the global AIDS pandemic. This will be the first time in more than 20 years that what is likely to be the world's largest health conference will have been held in the United States. Until President Obama lifted it in 2010, a travel ban prohibited people living with HIV/AIDS to immigrate, visit or even pass through the United States.

As these experts ask what America is doing to end the epidemic around the world, they'll also ask what we're doing to address our epidemic at home. No group in the in the United States is more impacted by HIV than Black people. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey, most Black Americans know someone living with HIV/AIDS. For many of us that person is a close family member. If you're Black there's a high probability that someone you care about deeply is living with HIV/AIDS, and if you haven't been tested lately that person might be you.

Many Americans mistakenly believe that the AIDS epidemic is over or to the extent that it does exist, it is only in Southern Africa, Haiti or other parts of the developing world. In actuality, new HIV infections in the United States have remained unacceptably stable at around 58,000 per year for over a decade. The AIDS epidemic in worse than anywhere else in the developed world and in some communities as bad as or worse than you would find in many developing world countries. In some neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., for example, 12 percent of Black women already have HIV. This compares to HIV prevalence rates of 2.2% and 10.9% in Port au Prince and Johannesburg, respectively.

The good news is that the International AIDS conference will shine a much-needed spotlight on America's Black epidemic. Those of us working on the conference have attempted to make sure the conference speaks to Black people from the opening ceremonies to the closing session.

Black folks are involved at every level of the conference planning, design and execution. In fact, in some respects, this conference represents the best application of FUBU I’ve ever seen.

With this backdrop it's important that as many Black Americans as possible attend the conference. Fortunately, it is easier to travel to Washington D.C. than to an international location. The opening ceremonies start on Sunday, July 22nd, and during the week hundreds of speeches, presentations and workshops on basic science, clinical science, treatment, HIV prevention, health economics, policy and advocacy will take place.

On four different days a Black American will deliver the major plenary address. At the opening ceremony, a Black minister from Chicago, Rev. Charles Straight, will deliver the opening invocation, the honorable Barbara Lee from Oakland will speak and President Obama is expected to address the conference. On Monday, I will be talking about ending America's AIDS epidemic. On Tuesday Linda Scruggs, a Black woman living with HIV, will deliver the plenary address on women and AIDS. On Thursday another Black woman living with HIV, Debbie McMillan, will speak about HIV and drug users.

In addition to the formal conference activities, a Global Village will offer free workshops, educational sessions, film festivals and performances from around the world that are open to the public.

The Kaiser Family Foundation will webcast a of the plenaries and many of the conference sessions www.aids2012.org. The Black AIDS Institute will blog and tweet from the conference. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@blackaids). Twenty-five black journalists will report from a Black point of view on the Institute's website (www.blackaids.org), and a number of National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) papers are sending reporters to write about the conference.

Finally, a series of post-conference updates will take place in 15 cities around the country from August to October.

The International AIDS Conference is a big deal for Black America. Without a doubt the conference is for us, much of what will be said will be about us, and in many ways it is by us. It offers an opportunity to obtain information that might save the lives of members of our community. We owe that to each other, we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to future generations.

In this issue of the Black AIDS Weekly, as the HIV epidemic continues to spread among African Americans, Black males account for the greatest number of new infections. Black gay, bisexual and/or same-gender-loving men are disproportionately impacted, but heterosexual Black men are being impacted as well. What do Black men need to know about how to prevent, or if they're already infected, treat HIV? Our doctor in the house, HIV specialist Dr. Teresa Mack, tells us.

The Road to AIDS 2012 traveled to Atlanta on HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, providing an opportunity for town hall meeting participants to learn more about the science of HIV prevention. The conversation ranged from the trials on HIV vaccines themselves, to the need for more Black people to participate in clinical trials, to the new scientific breakthroughs around treatment as prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Journalist Tamara Holmes reports.

As the International AIDS Conference draws near, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., reminds us of how far we have come in our understanding of how to prevent and treat HIV and the "robust armamentarium" of tools we now have in place to help us slowly turn the tide and bring the HIV/AIDS epidemic to an end.

An increasing body of research connects violence and trauma with HIV. Here, we share the results of a study in which intimate partner violence is linked to poor clinical outcomes. We also learn about the Many Shades of Gay public-health campaign taking place in San Francisco, and more.

The first in a 3-part series on why the International AIDS Conference matters to Black people. Part 1 discusses what the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) is. Part 2 will focus on some of the challenges facing Black communities. On the eve of the conference we'll look at what Black people need to do to end the AIDS epidemic in Black America and how the International AIDS Conference will help us do that.

Affordable Health Care Victory

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - I was standing in front of the Supreme Court when news came that the Court had upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It was interesting to watch Republicans yell and scream at the Court that rendered this dramatic affirmation of the President’s health care initiative. They were the same people who challenged the initial passage of the ACA and who’ve pushed back against everything the President has tried to accomplish. This Court that gave Republicans their President of choice in the 2000 election and, now, the Chief Justice who led in awarding Republicans their victory in Citizens United have become targets of Republican wrath!

Like others, I’m still reading details of this signature legislation of President Obama’s first term, but I already know this Court ruling is a huge victory for the American people—especially the millions of African-Americans who will benefit. Republicans are trying to spin the decision as though it weren’t a loss, but their bizarre and erratic behavior on the Supreme Court grounds disproved their statements. It became obvious that the misinformation they provided to those around them was more a function of their confusion and ignorance rather than anything else. As John Boehner pronounced the decision as giving them the energy to keep up the fuss about“Obamacare,” I, and others, proudly wore tee-shirts that said “I like Obamacare” -- because I know President Obama Cares!

When he ran for President, he promised us affordable healthcare. He has risked his presidency to do what he promised—improve the quality of health care and reduce the cost to taxpayers. He’s had unprecedented push back since the bill passed, but he’s held firm because of his commitment to provide quality health care for all. Sure, work remains to implement and improve ACA, but we’ll get it done!

The President knows that being a woman doesn’t constitute a“pre-existing condition” and pregnancy does not justify discrimination against women by insurers. The ACA assures that no one will ever again be denied care or charged more due to a pre-existing condition. He knew it was right to keepyoung adults on the family health plan until they are 26. That includes 410,000 more African Americans.

The ACA will increase funding to community health centers in all 50 states. In 2010, nearly 26 percent of patients served by U.S. community health centers were African-American. 5.5 million African-Americans who now have private health insurance will keep coverage for preventive services for no extra cost, and more than 2.4 million African-American seniors with Medicare have already received free preventive services. The ACA saves seniors about $600 a year on prescriptions; mammograms for women and wellness visits for seniors are also covered.

As a Constitutional scholar, the President was confident the Court would do the right thing. Justice Thomas notwithstanding, the President stood firmly in support of the right of good health for the people, and he won. Under a constitutional “Obamacare,”insurance companies no longer have unchecked power to cancel policies, deny coverage or charge women more than men. The law will save lives by making health care more accessible and affordable -- allowing us to diminish health disparities of African Americans.

Having overcome the health care hurdle, the President has the challenge of the distraction of a Republican attack on the credibility of Atty. General Holder. Once that issue is resolved and despite opposition, he will again be able to fight for legislation to improve the economy. We can expect a renewed focus on building bridges, schools and roads - putting people back to work. Let’s lean forward and stand with President Obama as he continues to bring us the “Change” he promised in 2008.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, and Board Chair of the Black Leadership Forum.www.nationalcongressbw.org. 202/678-6788)